An invitation to be still

The French philosopher, Blaise Pascal, once wrote:

I have often said that the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room [Source]

[..j’ai dit souvent que tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos dans une chambre].

Remaining silent for even a few minutes seems harder than ever in an age of constant digital distraction and social media. Yet if we were to set aside just ten minutes each day for silence - whether alone or in the company of others who are likewise silent - we might begin to cultivate a habit that would serve us well. If we were then to integrate this practice into

How do you know?

There follows a brief personalised Question and Answer blog series about the Eucharist. Today I consider the following question:

Question: How do you know that the bread and wine after the consecration are not 'substantially' bread and wine but the Body and Blood of Jesus?

Answer: I ‘know’ this because I am convinced that this is the consistent teaching of the catholic church since the earliest times and is consistent with the scriptures. 

Strictly speaking, I do not ‘know’ this in the same way that I know that 2+2=4 or that Australia exists as a place.  I ‘know’ it based on trust, understanding and – above all – gift.  At baptism, confession, communion and confirmation we are, each of us, given particular gifts compatible with our age, development and experience.  Like when I switch on a computer in the morning I do not understand the internal workings, codes and complicated interactions that occur. I trust that the machine will boot up and give me a view of windows and whatever programme or application I run. 

'.....my flesh....'

 “I am the living bread,” declares Jesus in Jesus 6:51. What does this mean for us today?

Bread has always been a basic part of human life. Together with water, it sustains and restores the body. In this sense, bread is a sign of life itself. Yet Jesus reminds us that our lives are sustained by more than physical nourishment: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4).

We recognise this in our own experience. Our lives are nourished not only by food, but also by love, acceptance, truth, and relationships. Even within Scripture, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of God’s word as something to be ‘eaten’, a way of describing how deeply it can nourish and transform us from within (Jeremiah 15:16).

The tabernacle - what, where and why?

The artiphorion or tabernacle on the altar at a celebration of the Eucharist in the UkrainianGreek  Catholic Church.

The first mention of the word tabernacle is in the Hebrew Bible, in the Book of Exodus. It refers to the mishkan – the dwelling place of God:

“And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them. In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” (Exodus 25:8–9)

The mishkan, or “Tent of Meeting”, was the place where, above all, the people approached God. God was among His people. It was a visible sign of His enduring presence – a local and physical sign. It housed the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Ten Commandments given to Moses.

Jumping forward to the first millennium following the Resurrection of Christ, Christians had reason to reserve the consecrated bread after the Eucharist, principally in order to bring it to the sick who were unable to participate in the celebration (Viaticum).

Over time, the reserved consecrated bread became a focus of special veneration. It is noteworthy that in the ancient rites and customs of both the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western Churches, the consecrated bread was housed in a special and sacred container on the altar where the Eucharist was celebrated. Only since the reforms of the 1960s has the tabernacle often been placed apart from the altar in the Roman Catholic Church. Today, it is typically located within the sanctuary, often behind or to the side of the altar where Mass is celebrated.

The sanctuary area including the altar and, behind it, the Tabernacle in my home parish of Holy Trinity church, Goresbridge, County Kilkenny

For Catholics, the tabernacle is a sacred and special place where Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament. It is a focal point for prayer, adoration, petition, and silent contemplation. Typically, a sanctuary lamp, often red, is placed nearby to signify that the Eucharistic presence of Christ is reserved there.

In some parts of the Anglican Communion, the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, usually for the purpose of Communion for the sick between celebrations of the Eucharist. However, some Anglo-Catholic (“High Church”) communities give a place of prominence to the reserved sacrament, as in the example below, where a hanging pyx is used. The image of the Bread of Heaven, or manna, suspended above the altar is striking.

High Wycombe Anglican church, Buckinghamshire. Photo by Sarumsleuth

Practice in the Eastern Orthodox Churches is similar in some respects to that of the Roman Catholic Church. There, the Artophorion (Greek for tabernacle) is placed on the altar where the priest celebrates the Divine Liturgy. An important difference, however, is that the Orthodox generally do not practice private Eucharistic adoration outside the liturgy, as is common in the West. Rather, the consecrated Gifts are venerated within the context of the liturgy itself.

Below is a striking and beautiful image of the sanctuary in a Russian Orthodox church.

In the centre of the sanctuary, beyond the Royal Doors, is the altar table, which can only be glimpsed from a distance when the doors are opened during services. The Holy Table, or Prestol, is where the Eucharistic sacrifice is offered; the Book of the Gospels rests there, the Antimension is placed upon it, and the reserved sacrament is kept in the Artophorion (tabernacle). It is honoured as the throne of God, the tomb of Christ, and the heavenly altar.

Note the “altar of oblation” to the left. It is called the Prothesis and is the place where the bread and wine are prepared before the Divine Liturgy.

The Altar at the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg - Sergei Pyatakov / Sputnik

Tomorrow, I will explore the place of the Antimension in the Eastern liturgy. It is rich in symbolism and draws together many Eucharistic themes.

Everywhere, always, by all

 

In my blog of this series (“Bread for the Journey”) published yesterday (Just believe) I quoted from the Imitation of Christ written in the 15^th Century:

Do not argue in your own mind, or try to answer the doubts the Devil hurls against you. Trust the word of God, believe his saints and prophets, and you will put your wicked enemy to flight.

The author was interested in a relationship with the Lord and not in disputes over philosophy or theology important and useful as these may be in context.

Eucharistic Presence – an Eastern perspective

 

By Velopilger - Own work, Public Domain

In yesterday’s blog I wrote about areas of agreement between Roman Catholics and Anglicans regarding the Eucharist, and in particular the mystery of Christ’s real presence in the consecrated bread and wine. It should be noted, of course, that Anglicans represent only one strand of Christianity that emerged from the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Moreover, there are arguably as many theologies of the Eucharist among Anglicans as there are among Christians across all denominations.

The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist #1

 

The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (Raphael 1509-1510) depicts theologians debating, with Pope Gregory I and Jerome on the left, and Augustine and Ambrose on the right, Pope Julius II, Pope Sixtus IV, Savonarola and Dante Alighieri. Source: here

Christ is present to us in a number of important ways:

• in the person next to me here and now;
• in the poor;
• in his Word;
• where two or three are gathered in his name;
• in the minister sent by him;
• and in his Body and Blood, offered in the Eucharist and received in Holy Communion.

It is in this last sense that Catholics speak of the “Real Presence” – a very special presence that is regarded as unique, substantial, and enduring.

Some other Christians, including Anglicans, also speak of the Real Presence in the specific sacramental context of the Eucharist. Rather than descend into acrimonious historical controversies or disputes over terminology, it is more fruitful to note what Roman Catholics and Anglicans actually say—and, indeed, what they agree upon—concerning the Real Presence.

To that end, here is an extended extract from the 1971 Agreed Statement on eucharistic doctrine (paragraphs 6-11):

Communion with Christ in the eucharist presupposes his true presence, effectually signified by the bread and wine which, in this mystery, become his body and blood. The real presence of his body and blood can, however, only be understood within the context of the redemptive activity whereby he gives himself, and in himself reconciliation, peace and life, to his own. On the one hand, the eucharistic gift springs out of the paschal mystery of Christ's death and resurrection, in which God's saving purpose has already been definitively realized. On the other hand, its purpose is to transmit the life of the crucified and risen Christ to his body, the Church, so that its members may be more fully united with Christ and with one another.  Christ is present and active, in various ways, in the entire eucharistic celebration. It is the same Lord who through the proclaimed word invites his people to his table, who through his minister presides at that table, and who gives himself sacramentally in the body and blood of his paschal sacrifice. It is the Lord present at the right hand of the Father, and therefore transcending the sacramental order, who thus offers to his Church, in the eucharistic signs, the special gift of himself.

The sacramental body and blood of the Saviour are present as an offering to the believer awaiting his welcome. When this offering is met by faith, a lifegiving encounter results. Through faith Christ's presence - which does not depend on the individual's faith in order to be the Lord's real gift of himself to his Church - becomes no longer just a presence for the believer, but also a presence with him. Thus, in considering the mystery of the eucharistic presence, we must recognize both the sacramental sign of Christ's presence and the personal relationship between Christ and the faithful which arises from that presence.

The Lord's words at the last supper, ‘Take and eat; this is my body’, do not allow us to dissociate the gift of the presence and the act of sacramental eating. The elements are not mere signs; Christ's body and blood become really present and are really given. But they are really present and given in order that, receiving them, believers may be united in communion with Christ the Lord.

According to the traditional order of the liturgy the consecratory prayer (anaphora) leads to the communion of the faithful. Through this prayer of thanksgiving, a word of faith addressed to the Father, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit, so that in communion we eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood. The Lord who thus comes to his people in the power of the Holy Spirit is the Lord of glory. In the eucharistic celebration we anticipate the joys of the age to come. By the transforming action of the Spirit of God, earthly bread and wine become the heavenly manna and the new wine, the eschatological banquet for the new man: elements of the first creation become pledges and first fruits of the new heaven and the new earth.

End of extract, above

The Agreed Statement does not resolve all doctrinal differences regarding the Eucharist. Nevertheless, it establishes a significant measure of agreement on key essentials concerning both the nature of the eucharistic sacrifice and the real sacramental presence of the Lord in the consecrated bread and wine. It is important to note that the Statement is concerned primarily with what is affirmed about Christ’s presence and the transformation of the elements, rather than how that transformation is to be explained.

A fully systematic philosophical explanation of the how does not emerge until the second millennium, and then in response to particular heretical or overly literal and superstitious interpretations of eucharistic change. In this context, St Thomas Aquinas developed the doctrine of transubstantiation, drawing on concepts informed by classical Greek philosophy in order to counter mechanistic or crudely physical accounts of what occurs in the Eucharist. These latter approaches claimed that Jesus’s body replaced the bread in a measurable and biological way or that Christ was ‘cut up’ or multiplied like ordinary matter.  In other words, we are dealing, here, with mystery and not magic; with faith and not physics.

The term transubstantiation itself was already in theological use by the early eleventh century and was employed dogmatically by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215; Aquinas did not invent the term but gave it its most influential philosophical exposition.

In this way, Catholic teaching developed as a faithful articulation of firmly held apostolic and patristic beliefs regarding the presence of Christ, using the language of transubstantiation from the Middle Ages onwards and drawing especially on the systematic theology of St Thomas Aquinas. For Catholics, this sacramental presence is uniquely substantial and enduring beyond the moment of reception, a reality the Church has solemnly defined using that terminology.

All this said, what Catholics—both East and West—believe about the Real Presence and about the change in the “eucharistised” bread and wine is consistent with what has been believed since the earliest apostolic times, as explored in other reflections in this Bread for the Journey series. The Church is bound to the reality of transubstantiation, not to Aquinas’s particular philosophical system.

The rupture in doctrine, ministry, and authority that occurred at the time of the Reformation - including its English expression - remains a real difficulty for Roman Catholics. Much work remains to be done. More love is required, that we may learn again to see and to walk together in the Eucharist. Greater conformity to the values of the Gospel is needed if full communion is to be attained.

In the meantime, it is worth asking whether a greater generosity in eucharistic hospitality, attentive to local and personal circumstances and without breaking universal communion, might not be considered as we strive for ever deeper mutual understanding and agreement.

At the foot of the cross

 

Picture: The Grotto Portland

On Good Friday I wrote about how, only on that day, the Mass is not celebrated. Then, I wrote:

The Church contemplates the historical, once‑for‑all sacrifice, rather than its sacramental re‑presentation in the Mass. Because we are in mourning, the altars are stripped, statues veiled, and the sanctuary lamp – signifying the Real Presence – has already been extinguished since the Blessed Sacrament is typically removed to another place on Holy Thursday evening following the Mass of the Last Supper. It is a day for silence, stillness, and reverence before the mystery of death. The joy of the Resurrection is near, but not yet.

This naturally raises an important question: what, then, is the point of the Mass on the other 364 (or 365) days of the year, and especially on each Sunday? The answer is that the Mass exists to sacramentally make present the one, all‑sufficient sacrifice of Calvary (Hebrews 10:10-14), and to proclaim anew Christ’s death, resurrection, and final coming. It is not a repetition of the sacrifice, but a real participation in it. Through what is technically called the anamnesis, the power and grace of that unique historical event are made present to us here and now. The sacrifice itself is finished—“It is accomplished” (John 19:30)—and yet it is perpetuated in the Eucharist because, as Saint Paul teaches, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

The new passover

 

Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist #4

Picking up again on the Jewish roots of the Christian Eucharist the author, Brant Pitre, draws together several themes that have echoed through the Easter Triduum:

• The once‑for‑all sacrifice of Jesus on Good Friday – the true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
• The meal of the Last Supper, where Jesus gives his Body and Blood “for you and for many.”
• The proclamation of a new covenant, sealed in Christ’s blood.
• The liberation of God’s people on the night of the Pasch or Passover.
• The real presence of God among His people, made sacramentally present in the Eucharist.

Transfigured bodies

 

There is a risk that in focussing so much on the  external reality of the Blessed Sacrament offered in the Holy Mass and reserved for adoration and communion of the sick between masses that we neglect the very real presence of the Eucharistic Jesus in us in the moments, hours and days following Holy Communion. We should receive with the same attitude and expectation that we might have that this could be my last communion. Today’s Gospel reading from Matthew about the transfiguration of the Lord reminds us that death and resurrection are never far even as Jesus’ transfigured being was revealed to his disciples in a moment of profound insight and joy.

Our bodies and souls live in hope, awaiting the glory that faith assures us will one day be ours.

Bowing low

 

In Psalm 95 (v6) we shout out at the beginning of the day:

O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

The greatest act of humility by our saviour is that he became a tiny, vulnerable human being in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is our faith.

The next greatest act of humility is that Jesus made himself the living bread broken, shared and given for us on the night of his betrayal and finished on the cross on Good Friday.